Dear Editor,
I could not believe the ignorance I found on Friday's Forum Page.
Normally, when I read the comments of students, I expect to find a slight degree of inanity, but the bile that was spewed by John Johnson amazed me.
"The United States rose to power via the oppression and murder of innocent people"?
Let's forget the War for Independence, which won our freedom from a colonial power. Granted, there are horrible chapters in U.S. history (slavery and the treatment of Native Americans are prominent in this regard) but to equate our bygone transgressions to the current treatment of the citizens of Iraq is not just a blatant misrepresentation but also a negligent act of distortion.
The part that made me ill was the statement, "and no other countries came over here and tried to blow up Washington, D.C."
Do you not remember the plane that slammed into the Pentagon killing 59 innocent civilians on the hijacked plane and leaving 184 dead or missing inside the Pentagon? You should be ashamed for making such a statement of ignorance.
Do you honestly think the U.S. will stay in Iraq to become the masters of oppression like the colonial powers of Europe? Oh right, just like we've done in Afghanistan. It's interesting -- the Americans brought freedom to the Afghans and cleaned out an oppressive regime in a few months when the Russians couldn't do it in 15 years.
For one who seems to believe that we belong to a global village, Mr. Johnson seems to let the Iraqi people out to dry, because their plight is too expensive at "$75 billion per campaign."
Should we have done the same in with the Nazi regime in the '40s? And as for the innocents who may lose their lives: 14,000 civilians died during the invasion of Normandy, but I think most in the world would consider that a small price to pay for the freedom it afforded.
Theo Plothe
graduate student
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